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12/20/2004

Massey CEO and vultures

I just finished reading the transcript from the televised debate between United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts vs. Massey Coal Corp CEO Don Blankenship and I had to check the old Webster's dictionary to make sure I was correct in my assumption about a term that best describes Massey's character:

Definition:
Vulture -

Any of various large birds of prey of the New World family Cathartidae or of the Old World family Accipitridae, characteristically having dark plumage and a featherless head and neck and generally feeding on carrion.

2. A person of a rapacious, predatory, or profiteering nature

Don Blankenship - Massey Coal Corp. CEO who not only bought himself his own federal judge in West Virginia, but also purchased the Cannelton Mines as part of the Horizon Natural Resources bankruptcy assets auction. Now Blankenship plans on re-opening the mining facility, but will not rehire the hundreds of laid-off union miners instead he plans to replace them with non-union or perhaps contracted labor.

After reading the definition and applying it to Blankenship's character...yeah I think it fits.

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